Four long years since my last blog post. My contract with Toshiba Japan has ended more than one year ago, back on 31 January 2014. Never thought that i will remain with the company for so long. After these four years in Tokyo, I have finally decided that I should sort out my mind, clear the dirt out of it and rearrange my thoughts back as much as possible. I really think that i have lost a great deal of ability in writing articles in English. Not that I was good to begin with, but a lousy writer becoming a lousier writer is definitely something that I cannot accept.

These four years in Japan, I met the love of my life, improved greatly in Japanese, lived through the second greatest earthquake in Japan, avoided all possible radioactive contamination, took up vocal lessons, went through a long-distance relationship for three years with my girlfriend, developed a full product at work (definitely needed the help of my senpais a lot in the technical areas though), left the dormitory and rented a house outside, started a new career life with my girlfriend...and many other things...

I shall try my best to post whatever I experienced these past few years with all the backdated photos. I shall also try my best to have better critical thinking ability on all that are going around the world.

As of this post, Singapore's previous prime minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew has passed away and Singapore is having a mourning period for the week. He has really improved Singapore a lot in many ways. Somehow this event has made me feel that the old generation is really gone and it really is time for my generation to create a better future. I am not an ambitious person in that I will run for a ministerial position. I do think that maybe I can bring innovative engineer into Singapore, making it not only known for being a financial hub or port, but also an area of creative inventions.

When I have time, I shall post some guitar videos too. Realized I have not placed all the new guitars I bought since the last blog post.

Time to be active again!

Snowboarding

Had my third snowboarding session yesterday. Still a painful experience.

First session on the 8th and 9th jan was my first. Smashed every part of the body and was in pain for the following few days.

Second session was better. Just smashed my butt and right arm.

Third session was fine except for my smashed right knee. Went up to the high level slope without knowing it and rolling down was the only way to get down.

Not that i dun fall at all. I fell many times for all the sessions but the pain wasn't much to notice compared to the above-mentioned injuries. I believe in falls too. Without any fall that means you're not doing enough to improve yourself.

No pics right now. Hope to be able to take more to show everyone. And the mould on my camera lens was smashed out after i placed it in my pocket while boarding. Finally i can take pics without the mould appearing. Yay~

Littleworth Lane

Guitar instrumental song by Joe Satriani from Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards. Bought the album last month at HMV in Kawasaki. Just finished draft 1 tabbing of the song Littleworth Lane which i started last week. A relatively easy song too in terms of the notes to play. Feeling and tone wise? Need more practice.

Snowboarding and languages

Had my second session of snowboarding yesterday. It was less painful than the first session. However, the danger level was higher since with higher confidence there is a tendency to go at much higher speeds and do more stunts. My falls were less serious overall but once i fell it was definitely something that might lead to a hospitalization. Gonna be more careful. I didn't take many pics as I only brought my handphone while boarding cos i was worried of smashing my camera. Not that i wasn't worried about my phone but i guess the phone can be placed in a less impactful area on my body so it's kind of safer.

Snowboarding isn't too hard a thing to do if you've done wakeboarding or cable ski before. Overall i feel that it's easier than wakeboarding and cable ski and it's much easier to learn. Standing up and balancing is much easier too though the falls are much more painful.

My snowboard wear

Snowboard top

Snowboard bottom

Somehow listening to only Japanese all the time does result in problems in other language. I dun seem to be able to type in more proper english gradually. Words seem to have difficulty in appearing in my mind. I'm getting confused with grammar and such. For chinese, maybe there's hardly any grammar involved and sentence structures are less confusing, so i dun seem to have too much problem with it yet.

Wow i'm already 2.5months in tokyo

So fast it's 2.5months. I've no access to internet except my iphone. And iphone jus doesn't allow me to blog i dunno why.

Anyway i must be really busy with many things for time to run so fast. Really spent lots of money till now but luckily i'm earning sufficient too support it =). Let's add a few more photos for memory's sake.

Kamakura 鎌倉 Buddha on 20 Nov 2010


Tsukiji wet market in Tokyo on 4 Dec 2010. Woke up at 4.30am on a saturday morning to see this


Xmas lighting in Roppongi 六本木 on 11 Dec 2010. There were much bigger lightings around there but i wasn't really fascinated with them. Still think sg has better lightings


Saitama 小江戸 2010 Dec 30. Really nice place with Naruto kind of buildings. Worth a look for tourists. But i went on New yr's eve eve when many shops are closed. Oh well... Got a really nice ramen store there too. Too bad i didn't take any pic of it.


Zojoji temple 増上寺 2011 Jan 1. First new year celebration in Japan. Really wanted to see how it was like. The temple was near Tokyo tower which you can see behind the building. Really uber crowded haha. The atmosphere was really good too. Right at midnight everyone with balloons (only 3000) released them with their wishes. We went too late so didn't manage to get any balloons.


The balloon release

Went straight to Haneda airport after the new year countdown at around 4am. It was really shag man. No sleep and just headed to Hokkaido straight after that. First day was cold. Second day was also cold. Actually everyday was cold. I had to buy ear mufflers to prevent freezing my ears. I bought one with One Piece pirate logo.

Otaru canal. It was very near the shipyard. Cold wind really blows. But what sucked was the snow on the ground. I didn't realise my feet will freeze so badly with snow on the ground. Didn't experience so much snow on the ground even back in Beijing so didn't understand it till now.


Second day in Jyouzankei 定山渓. It was an onsen hotel. We booked one day with a traditional japanese room and wore yukatas.


Our trip in Hokkaido was quite aimless so we just anyhow walked around. Took this pic of the sunset.


Fourth day we passed by Aomori 青森 while taking the Shinkansen back. I really liked this big statue of the Aomori dog that stands maybe 10m? Went to the Aomori art museum to take a pic of it. Also went to the Ghibli studio and saw Miyazaki's works like Spirited Away and Ponyo.

It's hard to update so many things after 2 months of not updating. I'm a lazy person. I'll try to update again soon hahahaha.

3 weeks have passed

I've survived 3 weeks without proper internet! Borrowing my friend's internet to have this blogged.

Doing well now, but getting cold here and there. Got a flu this week since tuesday after i walked in the rain the night before. Freezing cold rain man... Spent around $2500 already in 20 plus days. Highest expenditure in my life. Next month onwards gonna cut down on expenditure. But still craving for another guitar and a dslr camera.

Went to Kamakura yesterday. It's a town outside tokyo that has history dated back to 1200s. So long ago. It's a nice place with a big buddha statue. Explored an area when tourists seldom go to.
Went for first jamming session today.

(to be further updated)

2 Weeks in Tokyo!!!

Two weeks have passed since i left singapore for tokyo. So fast man. And i was having complicated feelings for so long before coming here. Didn't have internet connection and iphone somehow just doesn't allow me to type in my blog. Finally able to update my life in tokyo.

Family pic. Quite surprised my aunts went to send me off =)

Gang pic


Room after cleaning up. Will be leaving it soon for another place though

Had fun exploring tokyo for the past two weeks. Went to places like Shibuya, Shinjuku and Akihabara. I've been eating japanese food which seems healthier till yesterday when i finally had a full mac meal after 2 weeks. First Ootoro eaten at Shibuya. 3rd Nov. Will always remember the fatty creamy taste of ootoro. No wonder it's an expensive delicacy.

Ootoro at 525yen

Went Mt. Takao last saturday to look at red leaves, aka momiji, but it was a little too early so most of the trees hadn't turned red. But it was an experience nonetheless.

Red leaves at Takao San

Another part of Takao San


New guitar setup with Blackstar tube amp HT-1R

Bought a new amp yesterday after looking at it last weekend at Ochanomizu station. It's famous for its many guitar shops there, many more than that in singapore. Damage 27800yen. I'm broke.

Had lunch today at Kawasaki after mac breakfast. 950yen damage for it but it's delicious. From today till payday it's time to cut down on my expenditure. The amp was really damaging.

Lunch today